I'm interested to know what field this is in.
As my last job (of 12 years) was parts and accessories for Harley-Davidson, so on the coal face, procurement and trying to predict the future of what everyone needs overnight at least 2-3 weeks before they need it.
And of course trying to move on the incorrect predictions that haven't done anything for 12+ months.
High voltage cable joints and terminations. I had to order everything 16 weeks in advance before covid hit, now its more like 20-25 weeks in advance at least.
It’s always difficult even at the best of times to make sure you’ve got the right stock on the ground. I always try to make sure I’ve got regular drops coming in every month so even if I don’t have 100% of demand in a given month I’ll have another drop in a months time to trickle feed into the demand.
In my business it’s important not to overreact as a lot of the demand is lumpy because of major projects that won’t be repeated so if someone orders 100 of a particular SKU you might turn around and order replacement stock over a 4 month period at 25 extra per month.
That way if demand drops off over the next couple of months you can just not order the remaining 25 per month drops moving forward which leaves you with less stock overhang moving forward than if you just turned around and ordered the 100 straight up.
